Head coach likens his blueliners to a baseball bullpen
In the eyes of their head coach, the Vancouver Canucks defensive corps is like the relief pitchers on a baseball roster. The manager has options as games head into the late innings. But hockey isn't baseball and while Tocchet may envision different players for different situations, ultimately he's not looking for closers. He needs six starters on his staff.
And that includes finding the right fit to play alongside his ace Quinn Hughes.
"I know you guys want (to know) 'who's the guy?'," Tocchet told the media after Monday's practice at UBC. 'Right now we don't have that guy per se, but to me we do have that guy. We have a bunch of guys that can do it. That's how I look at it. Just like in baseball, you have a bunch of relievers that are great relievers."
Rookie Cole McWard continues to skate alongside Hughes as he has in a pair of preseason games. At practice, Tocchet had Carson Soucy with Filip Hronek and Ian Cole playing with Tyler Myers.
With two preseason games to go, the coach says he's continuing to examine all options ahead of the Canucks October 11th season opener.
"We're a committee and I want them to get used to it," he said. "I don't think that's an issue with our team. I think it's okay to have a committee. I don't think we're going to have true partners the whole year so might as well get used to playing with different guys."
Tocchet pointed to the fact that Quinn Hughes is going to play -- and play a lot-- and Filip Hronek will eat up minutes, too. That leaves the coaching staff to figure out ways to distribute ice time to involve the others on a given night.
"I think the other guys are guys that sporadically can play heavy minutes, but we also have other guys that can fill in," he explained. "We're built as a committee and I like that. Some teams are built differently and they've got three guys that are going to play 20 (minutes) plus. I like ours where we spread it out."
Soon enough Tocchet will know whether his defense corps is ready to 'play ball.'
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